Reversible screw-propeller.



PatehtedMayZO; I902; L. WILSON. I

I REVERSIBLESGBEWPBOPELLEB.

(Application filed Sept. 23, 1901.)

4 Sheets-Sheet I,

Jn 06% Z71. ym

Jiie'ai).

No. 700,278 v Patenfed May 20, |9o'2.' Y L. WILSON. REVERSIBLE SCREW PRDPELLER. v (Application! filed 58 51;. as, 1901. (No Modal.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. L

J4 7/6 it 2702.

mr. uonmapcrms qn. summon. 0.:

No. 700,278. Patented May 20 I902.

' I L. WILSUN.

REVERSIBLE SCREW PBOPELLER (Application filed Sept. 23, 1901.)

' Patented May 20, I902.

4 Sheets-sheet '4.

(Application flied Sept. 23, 1901.)

(No Model.)

. M 10 n m 0 & -b I M z A Q Q w N Q N N. I I. I l I. I H. II FF J. L I JHJXH-M! ml fi w H 1 I I ll] ll I! I m: N "U a w m: man's PETERS w. moluuma, wAsHmn'rou. u. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- LIDA WILSON, OF BRQOKLYN, NEW YORK.

REVERSIBLE soREw-P'RoPELLER.

SPEGIEIUATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 700,278, dated May 20, 1902.

Application filed $epte1nber 23, 1901. I Serial No. 76, 7 (N0 model-3 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LIDA WILSON, a citizen:

of the United States,.residing at Pierrepont' House, Montague 'street, Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, have invented'cer tainnew and useful Improvementsin ReversL ble ScreW-Propellers,fully described and rep-I resented in the following specification andthe accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same. 'f

Theobject of the present invention is to' provide an improved construction, in that class of screw-propellers provided with shift ing blades by which the angles of the blades: relative to the shaft may be changed when the propeller-shaft is either at rest or in m tion, so as to alter, retard, reverse, or stop the motion of the vessel propelled, and the.

invention includes means for shifting simul-; taneously the blades of several propellers upon the same shaft. Such shifting blades are especially useful where the propeller shaft is rotated by a turbine, rotary, or other engine having considerable momentum or otherwise so constructed that it cannot be readily or quickly reversed, as the shifting of the angle of the blades on their seats rela-i tively to the propeller-shaft permits the move-f ment of the propeller-shaft to be continu ously in the same direction, whether driving the vessel at full speed ahead or astern, and also operates to reduce the speed of the ves-' sel when the blades are placed in an intermediate position or to resist its movement in either direction when the blades are so placed as to revolve in a circular plane.

In this construction the foot of each propeller-blade is formed with a circularfiange i and held movably upon a fiat" seat formed on the hub of the propeller by a suitable collar,-

and the construction .of the parts whicl1'em-' body the present invention will'be understood by the following description.

The drawings illustrate a propeller havin g four blades and a hub having four sides to" form the fiat seats 'for the circular flanges,, and the collars are shown xdividedupon themovement upon the seat. A part of each of 'the flanges is provided with teeth, and the 'ringwhichforms the collar is provided with passages} through which racks may be projected parallel with the shaft to engage the said'teeth, and the racksare all connected wit h a sleeve fitted to the exterior or interior,

or: both, of the propeller -.shaft and which serves to move all the racks and cause all the'propeller-blades to turn simultaneously of the vessel outside the propeller-shaft and clear of the screw-propeller. Such system of levers or the'shifting bar inside the hollow propeller-shaft may (according totheir size) be Worked by hand or by means of me- 5 chanical power, and if by power I prefer to employ a hydraulic ram having the proper length of cylinder and. piston travel necessary to move the racks the precise distance required to rotate the propeller-blades to the required degree. The projections which limit the movement of the blade upon the collaror lnjoase; the propeller-shaft be hollow and jthe screw propeller is fitted near the outer end of the shaft, the sleeve which carries the racks-may befittedboth within and outside the shaftand extended beyond the end of the sameintolan out'er bearing to assist in supportirlg the shaft andfrorn such vextension to receive' a'nd "supportthe racks; but in case the propeller5shaf tthasfone or more screw-propellers disposed at one or more intermediate point or points of its length between the hull and outer end of the propeller-shaft the sleeve is placed around the outside of the shaft close to thefirst inboard or nearest to the hull screw-propeller and moved fore and aft on the propeller-shaft by suitable means. In such latter case the sleeve is preferably formed with an annular groove and provided with a yoke surrounding and working in said groove, by which to move and hold the sleeve in any desired position. In such a case I prefer to actuate the yoke by two shifting bars extended along and near to the propeller-shaft, at opposite sides thereof, and carried through the hull in stuffing-boxes into the vessel, where the power may be applied to such shifting bars to move the sleeve in the desired manner.

In cases where there are several intermediate screw-propellers the movement of the racks on those astern of the first inboard propeller may be communicated to them by extending the racks from said first inboard propeller to engage with the teeth on the flanges of the blades of the propellers farther astern. This means of operating the sleeve is convenient for use with solid propeller-shafts and with hollow shafts driven by reciprocating engines.

It is obvious that a variety of mechanism may be used, as shafts provided with cams, eccentrics, levers, and gears, to move the sleeve in the manner described and that such mechanism may be arranged to operate through and along the hull of the vessel or from the rudder-post by levers or gearing supported thereon; but I have shown in the accompanying drawings only the means for moving the sleeve by shifting rods parallel with the interior and with the exterior of the propeller shaft, as these are the simplest constructions and least exposed to derangement; but myinvention embraces any equivalent mechanism.

The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 shows the stern of a vessel with three propeller-shafts and propellers upon two of the same, provided with means for turning the propeller-blades upon their hubs. Fig. 2 is an end view of the propeller-hub collars, showing the side next to the propeller-shaft. Fig. 3 is a plan of the hub, the collars and a part of the propeller-shaft, with the propellerblades entirely removed. Fig. 2 is an end View of the ring forming the divided collars as the same is represented in Fig. 11, and Fig. 3 is a plan of the same separated wholly from the propeller shaft and hub. Fig. at shows the inner end of the rack-bars with the head of a sleeve adapted to fit within a hollow propellershaft. Fig. 5 isa side elevation of the end of a propeller-shaft, with a sleeve fitted upon the exterior of the same and provided with the rack-bars. Fig.6 is a front view of the yoke for shifting such sleeve. Fig. 7is an end view of the propeller hub and shaft with the collars which hold the blades upon the hub, and one of the propeller-blades secured thereby, with the adjacent collarsin section upon the center line. The sleeve is shown in section at the outer end of the hub and the head of the sleeve removed. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the propeller shaft and hub with the collars and two of the blades secured thereby and one of the blades broken for want of room upon the drawing. Fig. 9 is a plan of the propeller shaft and hub with the collar and the shank of the blade in section at the outer side of the rack-bars, and Fig. 10 shows one of the propeller-blades viewed from the outer end. Fig. 11 is a diagram showing three propellers with their blades controlled by the same racks.

ct designates the hull of the vessel, 1) a central propeller-shaft, and b and Z1 side propeller-shafts.

The propeller C upon the shaft 1) in this figure is shown provided with a sleeve projected from the end of the shaft to turn the propeller-blades, and the propeller 0 upon the shaft b is shown provided with a sleeve 7t, fitted to the exterior of the shaft behind the propeller to turn the propeller-blades. A shifting bar 0 is extended through the shaft 1) to operate the head 1' of the sleeve 7i, which carries the rack-bars for turning the blades upon the propeller C. Two shifting bars a are shown adjacent to the shaft 1) and connected with a yoke on for-shifting the sleeve h upon said shaft. No propeller is shown upon the shaft 12 as it may be provided with the same appliances as the shaft Z) or as shaft 1;.

Referring to Figs. 7, 8, and 9, the propellerblades are designated cl, their necks or shanks c, and their base or foot is shown provided with annular flange The shank e is flared outwardly to the blade from the flange f, so as to strengthen it and the hold of the collar thereon. The hub g of the propelleris shown with four flat sides forming seats to receive the bases of the propeller-blades, and the center of each seat is formed with a hole to receive a steady-pin f, projected from the center of the base or foot of theblade. A collar 7; is fitted to each of the seats upon the hub and recessed internally to embrace the flange j" and the flaring shank c of the propeller-blade and operates in conjunction with the steady-pinf to firmly secure the propeller-blade upon the hub, while permitting the blade to be turned thereon. A portion of each of the flanges f is provided with teeth, as shown in Fig. 9, and arack-barjis extended along the side of the flange parallel with the shaft 1) and fitted to said teeth to turn the flange and its attached blade. The collars are greatly strengthened in their connection with the hub by their union to one another over the corners of the hub, and the series of collars constitute a ring with a circular exterior and square or other polygonal opening in the center which fits upon the hub snugly. Such ring will be termed the collar-ring herein. One rack-barjis required to turn each propeller-blade,and four rack-bars are shown in Fig. 7 movable upon the corners of the hub g and fitted through slots Z, which are formed in the collar-ring, to guide aiid hold such bars. The propeller-shaft b is shown hollow, and a sleeve h is shown fitted to the bore of the shaft 1) near its end within the hub g, and such sleeve is formed with a head.

. 't', to which the rack-bars j are attached. The

rack-bars j and the sleeve h may be formed integral with the head in asingle casting; but I have shown therack-bars j provided with round shanks 70 and bolted to the head by nuts k, as shown in Fig. 9. A stud s is shown fixed upon the shank of each of the blades, and a segmental recess t is provided in each of the collars of sufficient length to permit the turning of the shank through the desired arc, but to arrest and hold the propeller-blades d at the two extremes of such are movement,which are indicated by dotted lines (1 in Fig. 9. The stud s and recesst form contacting surfaces, which not only limit the arc movementof the propeller-blade, but serve to sustain it there when in operation, and thus relieve the rack-bar from strain at such times. The rack-bar j is shown of angle shape in cross-section, (see Fig. 7,) and one wing of each angle is smooth as it passes by one side of the flange f, which is unpro vided with teeth, while the other wing of the rack-bar is made a little wider and is formed with teeth to engage the toothed flange f, Fig. 9. y

In Fig. 8 the sleeve his shown drawn forward by its shifting bar 0, so that the head't' touches the end of the hub and turns the blades into one of their extreme positions, while the sleeve is shown in Fig. 9 pushed outwardly and thefiangefturned so as to shift the blade to its opposite extreme position. It is obviousthat the movement of the shifting bar 0 may serve tomoveand hold the blade in any position intermediate tocits.

two extremes, and it is also obvious that when the blade is set in thecentral position between the said extremes it would neither propel the vessel forward nor backward, but operate, even when revolving, as a brake to the motion of the vessel.

The shifting bar may be actuated and controlled by any suitable means, a hydraulic cylinder q being indicated in diagrammatic form in Fig. 1, with a piston-rod q connected and coupled to the shifting bar 0. The proportions of the cylinder may be such that the movement of the piston is restricted to the same distance that the bar a is required to travel, and the full actuation of the piston thus turns. the propeller-blade on the hub fromone extreme of angle, relatively to the shaft to the other.

' An index is indicated by an arrow 19, ad-

jacent to the hydraulic cylinder, and marksv upon the bar c, which coincide with the arrow-head when the blades are in their respective extreme positions, and the angle or position of the blades on the hub can thus be ascertained by such index.

The actuation of the sleeve h and the connected rack-bars by a single shifting-bar a can be eitected where the propeller-shaft is hollow; but Where the shaft is solid the sleeve may be fitted to the exterior of the shaft, as shown at h in Figs. 1,5, and 11, where the sleeve is formed with an annular groove 0, adapted to receive a yoke 19, which can be moved by any suitable means, as by the two'shifting-bars c, which are extended parallel with the propeller-shaft'to the-inside of the vessel, where they are shown connected by an auxiliary yoke 19 but both bars may be extended to the source of power, and thus actuated simultaneously. Such yoke or bars are readily actuated by any suitable means and serve to operate and control the propeller-blades the same as the single rode. The yoke 10 and rods 0 do not revolve with the propeller-shaft; but the sleeve 72, revolves blades upon several propellers by the same.

set of rack-bars, the'bars being extended from one propeller-hub to another through the slots Z of the collars k, and thus turning IOO.'

all the-blades upon theseries of propellers simultaneously. In this figure three propel 41ers are shown with the rack-bars connected to an inboard'sleeve h, fitted to the exterior of the propeller-shaft and actuated by'rods c, as described above; but it is obvious that I the racks can be extendedin an opposite direction from an outboard sleeve carrying the 110, head i and that the blades of all the propellers would be actuated thereby in the desired j manner. M a The right-hand end of the propeller-shaft b in Fig. 11 is the end nearest to the hull of the vessel, which would be supported in the sternsbearing, and the opposite end is shown extended through the hubot' the outboard propeller to be supported in an outboard bearing.

The construction of the collar-rin g is-shown a little different in Figs. 7 to '9,-inclusive',

(where the construction does not. require the Y rack-bars to pass entirely through the collar-- ring,) and in Figs. 2 and'3 and 11, in which the collar-ring is constructed to permit the movement of therack-bars entirely through the slots or passages l. The division of each collar is shown longitudinal or parallel with the axis of-the propeller-shaft; but it is-obfor application to the shankand flange 0f thev propeller-blade. With the construction 1 3o viously immaterial how the .collar is dividedv gether by bolts inserted through lugs 70 upon the contiguous edges of the section. To strengthen the construction, the sections of the collars upon the adjacent sides or seats of the hub maybe formed in one piece with one another, as shown in Figs. 2 and 2, and fitted each to one corner of the hub, or they may be formed in halves extending across the hub.

The collar-ring shown in Figs. 2, 3, S, and 9 is provided at one end with a flange a, which laps over one end of the hub and is secured thereto by a countersunk bolt to, and each of such parts is formed with the longitudinal slot or passage 0) to receive and guide the rack-bar j.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the collar-ring is shown provided at both ends with the flanges a, adapted to lap over both ends of the hub, which construction, in connection with the fitting of the collars upon the seats, engages the collar-ring with the hub upon every side and forms an exceedingly strong and durable support for the propeller-blades.

In Figs. 2 and 3 a flange o is projected over the lugs 7& so as to produce a smoother surface in contact with the water. I have claimed this particular construction of the divided collars; but any other suitable construction may be employed which is suited to hold the base of the propeller-blade securely upon its seat on the hub, so that it is capable of rotation on the said seat through the desired arc.

While I have made a special claim to the shifting-bars c or c for moving the rack-bars, it is obvious that the rack-bars may be moved fore and aft by any convenient system of levers or other connections, so as to turn the propeller-blades through the desired arc. The reversal of the propelling force is thus efifected without material resistance from the momentum of the revolving parts and without stopping or changing the direction of motion of the engine (of whatsoever nature) that may be employed to drive the propellershaft.

In Fig. 1 I have diagrammatically indicated by dotted lines the casing of a rotary turbine to turn the propeller-shaft to drive the vessel, and the reversal of the direction of the motion of the vessel is eifected while the turbine continues revolving in the same direction, and thus any interruption of its movement or resistance from its momentum is wholly avoided. The same would be true it the propeller-shaft were operated by a reciprocating engine, an electric motor, or any other agent.

It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in various forms which are not shown herein, and in particular it should be understood that the shape given to the base of the propeller and to the collar by which it is secured movably upon the seat or the hub can be made of any desired contour which affords the requisite strength and suport.

Having thus set forth the natureof the invention, what is claimed herein is- 1. A screw-propeller having a hub with seats thereon, the hub attached to the propeller-shaft, propeller-blades having each a base provided with a flange having teeth and fitted to its respective seat, a collar secured upon the seat over each of such flanges, racks extended through the collars parallel with the shaft and engaged with the teeth on their respective several flanges, the propeller-shaft being hollow, and a sleeve fitted within the end of the shaft and having a head attached to the racks, and a shifting-rod attached to and extended from the sleeve through the interior of the shaft to shift the sleeve as required.

2. A screw-propeller having a hub with seats thereon, the hub attached to the propeller-shaft, propeller-blades having each a base provided with a flange having teeth and fitted to its respective seat, a collar secured upon the seat over each of such flanges, appliances to limit the are through which the blades can turn on the seat, and racks extended through the collars parallel with the shaft and engaged with the teeth upon their respective several flanges,and means for moving the racks to turn the respective blades upon their sea ts simultaneously.

3. A screw-propeller having ahub with seats thereon, the hub attached to the propeller-shaft, propeller-blades having bases with flanges provided with teeth and fitted to their respective seats, and their shanks flared from the flanges toward the blades, a collar secured upon each seat and fitted to embrace the flange and flaring portion of the shank, and racks extended through the collars parallel with the shaft and engaged with the teeth on their respective several flanges, with means for moving the racks to turn the respective blades on their seats simultaneously.

4. A screw-propeller having a hub with seats thereon, the hub attached to the propeller-shaft, propeller-blades having each a base provided with a flange having teeth and fitted to its respective seat, a collar secured upon the seat over each of such flanges and slotted to admit a rack to engage with the teeth upon its respective flange, racks extended through the collars parallel with the shaft and each rack engaged with the teeth upon its respective flange, a sleeve attached to the racks to shift them simultaneously parallel with the shaft, and stops applied respectively to the blade and to the collar to contact at the extremes of the desired arc turning movement to limit it and to support the blade at such extreme positions independently of the rack.

5. A screw-propeller having a hub with seats thereon, the hub attached to the propeller-shaft, propeller-blades having bases with flanges provided with teeth and fitted to such seats, and their shanks flared from the flanges toward the blades, a collar secured upon each seat and fitted to embrace the flange and flaring portion of the shank,,and racks extended through the collars parallel with the shaft and engaged with the teeth on their respective several flanges, with means'for moving theracks to turn the respective blades on their seats, a segmental recess in the collar adjacent to the shank and a stud upon the shank to contact with the ends of such recess and limit the are turning movement of the blade,

substantially as herein set forth.

' 6. A screw-propeller having a hub with seats thereon, the hub attached to the propeller-shaft, propeller-blades having each a base provided with a flange having teeth and fitted to its respective seat, a collar secured upon the seat over each of such flanges, ap-

pliances to limit the are through which the blades can turn on their seat, and racks extended through the collars parallel with the shaft and engaged with the teeth upon their respective several flanges, and means for moving the racks to turn the respective blades upon their seats simultaneously, each collar being divided and each segment thereof fitted to the flange and shank of its respec tive blades, the contiguous parts of the divided collar being provided with flanges and bolts for clamping themtogether and to the hub.

7. A screw propeller having a hub with seats thereon,'the' hub attached to the propeller-shaft, propeller-blades having bases with flanges provided with teeth and fitted to such seats,and their shanks flared frornthe flanges toward the blades, a collarsecured upon each seat and fitted to embrace the flange and flaring port-ion of the shank, and racks extended through the collars parallel with the shaft and engaged with the teeth on their respective several fianges,,and means for moving the 1 racks to turn the respective bl'ades on their seats simultaneously: each collar being divided and each segment thereof fitted to the flange and shank of its respective blades, the parts of the collars between and bearing on adjacent blades being formed in one piece and fitted to the hub, the respective flanges and shanks, and the contiguous parts of the. divided collars beingprovided with flanges and bolts for clamping them together and to the hub,- whereby all the segments are united to one another and to the hub, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

S. The combination,with a propeller-shaft,

of a series of propeller-blades mounted on vided with teeth, and adapted to be heldbut capable of turning upon the hub, a collar for witnesses.

. LIDA :WI'LSONi Witnesses:

L. LEE, THOMAS S. CRANE.

hubs thereon, each blade having a base pro- 

